Overview of the gear on Uncle Al’s beloved W3854 SHADES a.k.a. Glory Days In this book, I use as the generic word for foresail, and distinguish between the smaller “storm” jib and the only where the distinction is needed.

1 16 16 2

15 17

29 17

32 30

1. outhaul 9. pole end fitting trip line 2. spi pole “ears” (2) 10. furled jib 3. vang/kicker attachment point on boom 11. spi sheet catcher 4. pole downhaul storage hooks (2) 12. bow eye & painter (removed while racing) 5. main cunningham hook 13. jib cunningham 6. spinnaker pole 14. jib sheet (continuous) 7. pole uphaul 15. mainsheet 8. pole downhaul 16. skipper throttling preventer

6 7

6 9

5 10

4 3 1 8 14 11 19 13 15 24 22 23 28 27 13 22 12 14 18 18 21 20 24 26 7 18 25 23 20 19 23 20 31 17 17

17. spinnaker sheet (continuous) 25. compass (the late, great Suunto K-16) 18. balls system barberhauler 26. low-rise mainsheet swivel cleat 19. raised spi sheet cleat 27. lever vang/kicker now upgraded to cascade system 20. fixed jibsheet lead with cleat angled up 28. magic box for jib halyard 21. Hans Gottschling net spinnaker bags (2) 29. 1964 bailing bucket from W116, my first W 22. main cunningham cleat 30. rubber universal for extension tiller 23. spinnaker halyard 31. spi halyard block and cleat 24. spi halyard storage cleat 32. non-adjustable bridle

7 Fanshawe Lake in London, ON A misty Sunday morning at the 2013 Pumpkin Regatta

8 Vital Gear > Top Quality Worth Paying For

Vital #1: Powerful vang/kicker 16:1 Cascade kicker/vang arrangement Without a powerful vang that is adjustable from both sides, by helm and crew, you cannot hope to go really well upwind when it blows. A 16:1 mechanical advan- tage (r) is adequate for a boat with a relatively large main like a Wayfarer or Rebel. My own boat still enjoys overkill: the 42:1 lever system (p.7, #27) The IV Cascade Vang: cleats Becket block A, hooked into kick- er strap on the (below), has lines 1 and 2 dead-ended on its As shown in inset above, our tails (red) and outhaul becket. Line 1 runs through block (white) lead aft under thwart to block and cleat. B, then ends with block C. Line 2 runs through C, to one of two blocks E at mast foot. From there, then ends with double-block D. Line 3 goes each loose end runs aft along the centreboard box through block A. Then each end of 3 goes through to a turning block under the thwart before exiting one of the two sheaves of D, before going forward to a cleat (F below) on each side of the boat.

B line 1 line 1 line 2 line 1 C line 2 A line 3 D line 2 E

A D 1 & 2 E line 3 A line 3

F

9 Vital #2: Centreboard, rudder & tiller Your centreboard, rudder and tiller should be the finest sample of the art that you can make or buy. Anything less tends to lead to frustration every time you . More than anything else, these items are the heart of your boat. Top drawer gear here is not just vital for racing but also an essential safety precaution. Winter 1978: My improved centreboard brake solves the problem of screws losing their grip. I use bolts (above) that Gudgeons, pintles, blade, head, tiller, go through the original plate and car radiator hose. The extension and rubber universal should bolts then pass loosely through about 1/2” (12 mm) of the all be first-class. Flash!! After decades centreboard’s wood into threaded holes in a fitted piece of of struggling in vain to keep a snug tiller 1/8” (3 mil) aluminum for which I made room with the slot fit, I have just switched to metal rudder shown above. Excess bolt length for increased adjustability head and tiller to match. Already I am a is accommodated by extending the two waterproofed holes complete convert. And if your foils are drilled into the wood about an inch past the slot. not yet glass-coated, safety demands that they should be. Vital #3: Jib halyard tension hooked into the loop at the bottom end of the Unless you race purely for the joy of being out on wire jib halyard. Line 1 ends with block B. the water with friends, you must have a way of Line 2 starts at eye strap E.2 and runs through tightening your jib halyard well beyond what block B before ending with block C. human muscle power can achieve. The jib halyard should control your rig tension - taking over from Line 3 starts at the eye-strap E.3 and runs through a fairly loose forestay as soon as the jib is up. block C before coming aft through the thwart at D. Photos and a description of the Wayfarer system From there the loose end runs to a cam cleat with of choice follow: a becket on the aft face of the centreboard box.

The 8:1 cascade system used to get desired jib A halyard tension on the Mark IVs. line 1 Line 1 starts at E.1 (starboard equivalent of eye B strap E.2) and runs through block A which will be line 2

A line 1 C line 3 B line 2 C E.1

line 3 E.2 D

the 8:1 cascade system used on Mark IVs to get desired jib halyard tension. E.3

10 Vital #4: Main and jib halyard A blindingly simple solution to lost shackles: NEW!! 2021.04.18 Warning from those who know: The late Ton Jaspers, a Dutch Wayfarer friend of Although Spectra and Dyneema ropes have less ours, shared a fine way to do away with loop and stretch and more strength than stainless steel shackle at the sailhead end of each halyard and wire, they are subject to slow stretching called use a ball and stopper knot instead. The halyard is “creep”. So now I will return to halyards with attached as illustrated below. loaded portions of 7 X 19 stainless steel: 1/8” jib, 3/32” for main. But I may splice a foot or so of Dyneema/Spectra to the “sail end” of each hal- Pull this part 1. Double the rope and yard in order to by-pass shackles. Because hollow to tighten thread it through the core dyneema is so easy to splice, I recommend headboard hole. Put the ball through the created loop.

using a dyneema halyard tail as well. It is easy to do an eye (loop) splice to connect the two loops as shown above. Watch out for loop chafe though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9kImggLWUQ shows how to eliminate potential slippage by using 2. Pull tight the brummel lock splice. My main and jib halyards as shown. must be fairly precise in length since they go from the sailhead to fixed hooks: on my jib halyard magic box or, in the case of my main halyard, the middle hook of five on my HA23671 halyard rack (left) which lets me use main luffs of slightly dif- ferent lengths.

Good news: If you use the “loop and ball” approach shown on the right, it is worth making your jib halyard a few inches too long to build in adjustment options to accommodate longer 3. To loosen the or shorter luff wires on knot, pull on the future foresails. ball. HA23671 Flash! For 2021 I will go back to a wire jib luff wire but change from the stiff 1/8” 1 x 19 wire to halyard wire (7 x 19). Much easier to roll your jib before bagging with the more flexible 7 x 19. Fingers crossed!

11 Miscellaneous essentials 1. battens that fit well and live Sept. 2002: in the rolled-up sail Uncle Al and 2. a powerful vang/kicker to son, Dave, on bend the mast and de-power Lake Ontario in main upwind and to limit main the Around-the- twist. On a run this is Island Race critical. Twist makes gybing harder and dangerous. It can also cause the top of the mast to be pushed to windward which is one source of the "death roll" capsize to wind- ward on a run. For upwind in wind strengths that require you to ease the main to keep the boat flat to avoid excessive , a well tensioned vang that keeps your top batten parallel to your boom end makes a huge difference to how well you will be able to point (right). We have on numerous occasions arrived at beer stops literally hours before fellow cruisers who were using far too little or no vang/kicker. 3. mainsheet swivel cleat set up so low that it takes con- scious effort cleat the main (below). 4. a mainsheet thin enough to run easily through its various blocks is ample and much cheaper(left) 5. outhaul: main to black boom band in breeze 6. cunningham - to bring upwind sail draft back forward to mid-sail by tensioning tension the luff - easily jury-rigged, nothing high-tech needed. 7. Many cruisers see a system as an absolute necessity, and I very much respect this. But there are viable and cheaper options. See chapter 4 (p.44).

The spinnaker and its gear are covered in chapter 6, page 71.

12 Jib halyard: On W3854, I still have not gotten up Why is fixed OK? Once the jib is close-hauled, the the nerve to replace the jib halyard wire which upper sail comes in far faster than the foot as you loops over the same old magic box I found for $10 sheet in: 150 mm (6”) of the upper leech per 25 in the remainder bin at Tom Taylor’s 1978 going- mm (1”) of sheet tightening on a Wayfarer. Thus it out-of-business sale. My magic (muscle) box and is easy to bring your entire luff to a consistent and halyard rack are mounted on my mast below the correct angle to the wind merely by sheeting in gooseneck where the halyards used to exit from until the telltails indicate that the upper and lower the mainsail groove on the Proctor golden oldies. sail are both at the same angle to the wind. This The newer masts are far better rigged with beauti- works from anywhere on a normally placed jib fully versatile exit blocks at the mast foot so that track. nowadays, most people just put their halyard You can achieve this balance by trimming and re- hooks and their tensioning system along the cen- trimming the jib until upper and lower (to which treboard box as shown in photos on page 10. the helm steers) telltails show luff at the same time. However, a simpler, more fool-proof way to Vital #5: functional sheets and cleats check this is a telltail about 3/4 up the jib leech: Cleats that work perfectly and stay angled up sheet in until the telltail is on the verge of getting (below) are essential if you want to race well. And sucked behind the leech. Never further!! the right sheets (main, jib, spi) are equally vital. The only benefit of a movable lead would be that Most dinghy main and jib sheets that I see are the bottom quarter of your jib can be made a bit obese: The maximum diameter needed on most flatter/fuller by sheeting from further aft or fur- dinghies is 6mm (1/4”). “My hands!” do I hear you ther forward. I have tried this type of adjusting but cry? Well, that is why we have the functional was unable to detect any performance difference. cleats. Sailing schools may say never cleat the More details in chapter 5, p. 59. main but no - what is better is to always be ready to uncleat fast. Have your hand on your mainsheet and your mind on the job - especially in capsize weather! In most races, I cleat/uncleat the main hundreds of times. Ask your chandler for rope that is hands-friendly with low stretch and high resist- ance to wear.

Vital #7: pin shroud adjusters Use these adjusters (above) to connect shrouds to the . Turnbuckles/bottlescrews are dangerous, being prone to sheering off without warning after repeated contact with docks, etc. Or they will work themselves loose and fall apart unless prop- erly secured with wire or duct tape. Shroud plates also make shroud length adjustment simpler. Vital #6: jib leads Moving the pin one hole on our boat (above) Chafe-resistant leads (above) and quality cleats decreases/increases masthead-to-transom rake are vital, but no moveable lead is needed. A fixed measurement by 10 cm (4”). With the more high lead-and-cleat combination is good enough (#20 tech two-holer (inset above), a diagonal move earlier). Since I last adjusted my jib lead position in reduces that change in rake to 5 cm (2”). So, do 1992, W3854 has won 16 North American champi- yourself a favour and lose the turnbuckles. You’ll onships. I rest my case. never, ever regret it.

13 Hermit Island, Aug. 2014: The Rally fleet returns from the lobster place, Holbrook’s.

14 1 Boat Set-up and Gear I Sail a Working Man’s Dinghy If you have the Rolls-Royce of Wayfarers, the Mark “This sh*t box won three races!!??” was the cri- IV with all imaginable “bells and whistles”, you tique overheard by my crew, Erik Yeo (below), dur- won’t need my A and B lists below. The current ing the 1971 Canadian Wayfarer Nationals at the (5th) Wayfarer Book does a fine job of describing Kingston YC. As Erik approached, three fairly hot available go-fasts, and my contribution will be to U.S. sailors were checking out our boat which had rate their importance to a racer below: won the day’s three races. the A list: Crucial: Items worth money and effort to get more quality and less frustration: 1. top flight, strong centreboard, rudder & tiller 2. powerful vang/kicker & jib halyard tension set- up: cascade system gives these at modest cost 3. reliable main and jib halyard - enough said 4. functional sheets, sheet cleats plus durable jib sheet fairleads and mainsheet swivel block 5. if you race with a spinnaker, go first-class with all spi rigging; likewise if furling gear is in your plans, I recommend the Aero Luffspar system In my early Wayfarer years, I became adept at jury 6. use shroud adjusting plates not turnbuckles rigging, because I tended to have cheap gear that 7. compass; straps; spinnaker bags often broke down. It was not until 72-75 in tippy 8. buoyancy compartments which at least meet Fireballs that I discovered the joys control lines the requirements imposed by the wet test that run efficiently to both sides - a necessity on a required by Class Rule 34.8 performance boat like the . 9. a large bailing bucket that is firmly tied to the boat In 1975, I bought a new Wayfarer, a composite Mark II, built for me by Gene Smyers of Avon Sailboats in Michigan. Inspired by the Fireball rig controls, W4000 became the best-rigged North American Wayfarer of its time. Sadly Beaver Blues weighed 50+ lbs over minimum and after three semi-successful seasons, I sold her and went back to wood, W3854 which I bought for $3000 from Ron Gillespie at the end of the 1977 season.

As Class Coach (1979 >), I tried to simplify things for my students, and I started a more or less non- profit rigging business, installing gear that made good racing easier, especially for weaker crews. the B list: anything functional will do: Few of my fellow Wayfarers are as wild about rac- 1. outhaul, main and jib cunninghams, bridle ing as I am. This leads me to keep my advice in the 2. jib lead position: a non-adjustable lead-and- KISS (Keep It Simple, Sailor) category, and my rig- cleat combination is enough (photo p.7 #20) - ging recommendations as well. The dinghy sailors place the lead more or less where an imaginary I know tend not to be rolling in money, so I still try line from half-luff through the clew would meet - where possible - to recommend gear options the surface on which the lead will be located but that avoid needless expense. is OK to be moved for better crew comfort

5 Lesser items where top quality is not so crucial

Our jib cunningham is dead-ended through an eye-strap, runs up through the jib- grom- met, back down through a microblock and aft to its cleat inside the splashboards (inset).

the cleat

cunninghams hiking straps Even when racing, we use our jib cunningham You need reliable foot-friendly hiking straps that only to keep the luff from riding too far up the luff are set up not to drop you into the water if your wire. I also find that easing the cunningham on crew stops hiking, i.e. fixed under the thwart. runs lets the tack of the jib set better. storage bags Our main cunningham is set up for the crew to On SHADES, we’d be lost without our fabulous adjust from either side - see two-page spread Hans Gottschling net spinnaker bags (p.7 #21) and pages 6-7. It is for upwind work only. It needs to be their side pockets under both sides of the bow let off at or before the windward mark, then re-set deck. They hold everything from spare clothes to near the leeward mark. beer - even the spinnaker at times. outhaul I have a nice outhaul that is adjustable from both sides but rarely have the time, desire or need to adjust it. A very low priority item for me. compass A compass is vital for racing on open water. I love the thwart-mounted Suunto K-16 (p.7 #25) but it is regrettably out of production.

Most of the keen racers whom I know are now using the rather costly TackTick, a mast-mounted electronic compass that doubles as their stop watch. It can do even more, but Wayfarer Class Rules permit no use of electronics while racing The little storage bags (above) under the thwart except for timers, compass and digital cameras. are a very useful idea I picked up in Denmark. Julia Cell phones are permitted but not the in-race use made me two and got rid of an old sail bag from of their GPS capability. the garage in the process.

16 The bridle has replaced the traveller! high that it can meet the boom block too easily. The transom traveller on Wayfarers has mostly Because the mainsheet needs to be able to add been replaced by the bridle. Today’s vang can eas- leech tension as desired for top pointing. If a bri- ily give you all the boom down-pull for which the dle is too long the vang could be used to get required leech tension, but with the too-long bri- dle, you can then no longer centre the boom.

The Hartley W (left) comes with the ultimate in adjustable bridles. But for me that would just be a potential distraction from more important mat- ters. An inexpensive fixed bridle is enough: low stretch rope with your former traveller block fixed in its middle. Then you fasten the loose ends to the corners of your transom.

Length? Make the rope too long to start with to give yourself room to experiment. But do end up traveller used to be useful. In terms of the sheer with the bridle “legs” short enough so that it will importance of the benefits it brings, the bridle be nearly impossible to sheet block to block. You belongs right up there with the items that I just point on your main leech and its tension, i.e. the classified as vital a few pages back. But it can be more leech tension you can usefully add, the bet- rudimentary and cheap (below). ter your distance made good to windward. To achieve optimum results, Marc and I used a fixed The bridle moves the transom block that was on length that would grudgingly go block to block the traveller much closer to the boom. The more when we were both hiked out (bottom). If we we bring these two blocks together, the easier it were both sitting on the high side without the becomes to centre the boom for optimum point- need to lean out, we had about 25 mm (1”) ing without undue downward pressure on the between the blocks, 50 mm (2”) if the crew was main leech. But the transom block must not be so only sitting on the windward bench. The wire bridle below chewed too much wood so we have lately switched to two equal-length pieces of 3mm Spectra with eye splices at both ends.

17